Four seek seat in District 10

Candidates with diverse résumés are battling to succeed Clamp.

By Vianna Davilavdavila@express-news.net

Updated 1:28 pm, Thursday, May 5, 2011

Carlton Soules recently took a driving tour through the neighborhoods of District 10, past the high-end homes of Northwood and the modest bungalows off Perrin Beitel Road, all the while describing the residents' needs.

Soules built a knowledge base about this widely diverse district, he said, from over two decades of neighborhood and community involvement.

So he decided to run for the District 10 seat, and took out a $75,000 loan for his campaign, overall outstripping his closest opponent's fundraising efforts by more than $60,000.

The question is what kind of edge those funds will give Soules, 44, a commercial property manager, against retired City Hall WOAI radio reporter Bud Little, 72, and longtime community activist Laura Thompson, 53, all vying for the seat about to be vacated by John Clamp.

A fourth candidate, college student Israel “Isy” Perez, 19, has not filed any campaign finance information with the city and has not returned calls seeking comment.

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Little has often been considered the race favorite because of his name recognition, insider's knowledge of City Hall, and endorsements from four previous District 10 councilmen.

Soules contends Little only secured the endorsements because he announced his candidacy months earlier.

Little doesn't appear fazed by the jabs. For a journalist turned fledgling politician, he talks about himself in subdued tones.

“I just feel a little self-conscious bragging about myself,” Little said. “I'd rather have somebody else say it rather than me.”

Little wiggled his way into a disc jockey job in Laredo at the age of 19.

He and his wife moved to San Antonio, and he started reporting for WOAI radio 36 years ago. His ties here go deep. His mother was born and raised here, and his grandfather was a police officer.

“I just love the city, and I want to give back something,” Little said recently, sitting in his living room, which has also become his campaign headquarters. “I want a new challenge in my life. I'm 72, and I'm proud of that. It probably, in some circles, may be a negative. I think the experience I have acquired over the past 36 years, covering City Hall, overshadows the fact that I'm a senior citizen.”

A former president of Keep San Antonio Beautiful, he's adopted seven streets in his neighborhood as part of the organization.

If elected, Little wants to hold what he's dubbed “Friday in the Field” and meet with neighborhood leaders to tackle small-scale projects such as litter pickup or tree-planting. “In other words,” Little said, “get down and dirty in the neighborhoods.”

Thompson also was born and raised in San Antonio, but left for a number of years until returning in the early 1990s to raise her son.

She eventually started a business, the Laura Thompson Agency, a media and public relations firm. She founded several organizations, including Sistas in Business, a nonprofit to support African American businesswomen, and Contour Visions for middle school-age children, to get them involved in their community.

It's from that history of community activism that Thompson got her campaign tagline: “From Community Service to Public Service.”

“I've always wanted to be in public service,” she said. “I just felt that this was the right time.”

Soules has lived most of his life in District 10. His focus is neighborhoods. District 10, he said, is wall-to-wall neighborhoods, and their individual needs should be addressed.

Soules was part of the Austin Highway Revitalization Project, and would like to see that work continued down the road, past the Eisenhauer cutoff point.

“To see continued revitalization here is a priority,” Soules said. “This is a long-term process.”

Typically, most of the focus in the district has been inside Loop 410. But “we have areas outside of 410 that need help too,” Soules said.

Soules, Little and Thompson all agree Perrin Beitel, a major District 10 thoroughfare, is in desperate need of an economic boost and revitalization. All three candidates recognize the district's growing senior population and would like to see construction of a multipurpose senior center on land off Thousand Oaks Drive that the city purchased.

Soules and Little both want to continue John Clamp's plan to revitalize the Harry Wurzbach corridor up to Fort Sam Houston.

Little points to his decades spent covering City Hall as proof of his ability and experience. Soules acknowledges he has a lower City Hall profile than Little, but what matters, he said, is that he's known to other District 10 constituents.